Haldun Açıksözlu has been charged with "insulting the prime minister" in his play "Laz Marks".
(BIANET/IFEX) – 14 March 2010 – Haldun Açıksözlü, actor and director of the theatre play “Laz Marks”, is being sued over allegations that he insulted the prime minister in his play. The show has been on stage for one year in cooperation with the Leman Culture Center and Canşenlik actors and has toured about 80 different provinces and districts.
The complaint was filed after a performance in Rize, a town in the Laz region on the eastern Black Sea coast. The Rize Magistrate Criminal Court is demanding a prison sentence of two years and eight months for Açıksözlü.
Açıksözlü’s lawyers, Hüseyin Güçlü and Hakan Bintepe, have issued the following statement to the public: “Citizens will pave the way to freedom by way of joint initiatives against attempts to destroy freedom of speech and thought.”
